Stuck in the Mesozoic Zone
by halyathedragon
Summary: Zim and Dib find themselves trapped in a time before history had a name, with only one person who can guide them out, dead or alive, and unfortunately, shes just as crazy as everyone isn't. This is my first fanfiction but I hope it's bearable. Rated for language, blood and mild violence in later chapters.
1. In the Begining There was

"This is all your fault!" The tiny irken screeched, shoving the human into the moist soil.

"My fault?" The raven haired boy snarled back from the ground. "I'm not the one who left that teleporter thing on!"

"You will never understand my _superior_ brain, inferior human earth-monkey." The alien smirked, placing a hand on his hip.

"If you're so superior, then where the hell are we Zim?" The human spat, standing up to face the alien and driving his finger into the others chest. Zim reeled back, obviously appalled by the human.

"We're somewhere in this _filthy_ planets history, stupid Dib-stink, but I can't tell you when exactly because I haven't bothered to learn this planets miserable history."

Dib frowned; do to the irkens lack of information. He stared up, into the canopy far above that spongy ground.

"Well, it really humid and hot, so maybe we're near the equa-" The big-headed human was cut off by a loud low rumble that gradually rose into a deep trumpeting. Zim cringed, black stalks flattening against his head, while the hair on the back of Dibs neck stood up. Several long minutes passed by, the bushes to their right rustled and quavered, and were parted by a pair of small pink hands. A girl, about the same height as the other human and alien, stumble out of the dense underbrush and stood straight and tall in front of them. She was dress in a ragged white tee-shirt the numbers 101 printed on it, the ones stretched out to look similar to L's. Her shoes were plain and white and she wore grayish-blue jeans.

"You would think that is easy to find you two, considering how loud you two scream at each other, but when you find yourself stuck in the middle of a herd of Altirhinuses, or however you say it plural, getting where you need to go proves to be very difficult, unless you jab one in the back of the leg with a stick like I did." The girl rambled hurriedly, putting her brown hair on her shoulder to pick out clumps of twigs and grass. Dib and Zim only stood there dumbfounded by this person, who they had no idea who she was or how she got here, but apparently she knew exactly who they were and when they are.

"How on Irk did you get here?" Zim interrogated, scrutinizing the human, trying to come up with a reason for her being here.

"Well, I was walking along, minding my own thoughts, when I noticed someone in front of this little green house, so I decided to get a closer look. By the time I got there, they, or should I say you, had already gone inside, so I let myself in. I sat on the couch next to some dog thing that squealed something unintelligible and I responded with 'yes' and then the couch dropped down into an alien lab of some sort-"

The irken seemed to have lost interest long ago, until that last statement. "LIEEESSSSS" Zim shrieked, little arms clawing the air. The girl's coffee-colored eyes lingered on the pint-sized alien before flicking to Dib and then back to nothing in particular.

"I see, anyways, I saw a portal type thing and I asked the dog what it was, not really expecting an answer, but he did answer, I just knew I would talk to enough dogs that someday one would respond. He, or at least I think it was a he, said that his master had gone in there with his big-headed friend so asked me to go in and find him. A computer type voice said it would make a worm hole to bring us back, though we only have so much time to reach it." The girl drew in a long breath and panted. "And I think I should let you know that that was a lie." She added to herself and grinned. The girl rifled through her pocket and drew out a small square box with a gray lit up screen.

"That's a time distortion transmitter!" The alien snatched that box out of the humans hand and tapped the screen.

"A time distortion whatever? It'll help us find the worm hole, right?" Dib inquired, moving next to his enemy to get a closer look. The irkens forehead creased, poking the small screen again and again. He growled and frustratingly shook the box up and down, before scoffing and dropping it disdainfully on the ground.

"Stupid thing's broken…" Zim mumbled, crossing his arms. The girl picked up the box, brushed off the dust and dirt, and stared intently at it, like there was something lying underneath the exterior.

"It's like are compass, see?" The human held out the box and moved her wrist side to side, showing how the virtual needle moved to stay in facing one direction.

"I knew that!" Zim snapped, stealing it away again. Dib only gripped the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Why did I have to get stuck here, with _you_?"


	2. Encounter the Compy

Zim stared intently at the compass, flicking his head around to get an idea of his surroundings. "That way looks good!" The irken grinned and pointed towards the east.

"Ok, lead the way." The girl hummed, walking up behind Zim.

"Fine, but I'm only following you because I have to get home before Mysterious Mysteries comes on." Dib stayed a few feet behind, cautious of Zim and the other human. Zim marched forward and into the garden of prehistoric ferns that reach up to his waist, their vivid green arms brushing lightly against the visitors. The brunette followed behind before dropping back to walk in step with Dib.

"So, what's your name? The only thing I have to call you by right now is big-headed boy but I sure you rather be called something else." The girl asked head tilted to the side.

"Why does everyone mention that? And yes, I'd rather you call me Dib." Dib growled in an irritated tone.

"What's your name though?" She asked with all seriousness. Dib looked at her with a confused expression.

"I said my name is Dib"

"No you didn't you said you prefer to be called Dib, not that it was your name."

"Um… ok then, what should I call you?"

The girl stared blankly for some time. "You can call we whatever you want, though I'll probably only answer to Parasa, like parasaurolophus." Parasa twittered, kicking a stone that was in the path of the freshly flattened ferns.

"Ok, Parasa, nice to meet you, I guess."

"What's his name?" Parasa pointed after some time to Zim who had stopped at the sound of a small chirp.

"That's_ Zim_" Dib scoffed at that mention of his archenemy. "He's an alien." Dib whispered to Parasa.

"No shit." Parasa retorted in an ill-tempered manner. The human flinched at the sudden harshness of the other. Parasa seemed to have completely forgotten about that sudden outburst and was analyzing Zim. His antennas were flicked forward and he was glaring at the underbrush. A petite bird-like lizard hopped out, chirping at Zim. Its body was about two feet long, half of it made up of its thick tail that swayed back and forth to help it keep its balance. The little arms flailed about and its triangular head bobbed around similar to a bird.

"Aww, look at the little compy." Parasa cooed.

"Com…pee?" Zim sounded out slowly, natural curiosity coming forth. The greenish brown creature chirped again and hopped closer to Zim. The irken took a step back and that compy jumped up and down excitedly with little enthusiastic squeaks.

"What's it doing?" Dib asked, as curious as the alien. The compy tilted its long snout towards Dib, surprised by the new sound. Its beady eyes flicked back to Zim and it jumped forward with its jaws parted. Zim howled in pain when the tiny dinosaur's teeth dug into his wrist. He kicked at the lizard but it easily dodged the assault. The compy squealed mockingly at the irken before screeching and hopping back into the shrubbery.

"That stupid, little dirt-lizard! How dare it bite _Ziiiimmm_?!" Zim shrieked, holding his hand and examining the bite.

"Come on, we'd better go before it comes back with the rest of them." Parasa said nonchalantly. "And if you feel like you're going to die, please do it somewhere away from everyone else because frankly I don't want to be around that when the bigger ones come about."

"Where…to…now?" Parasa huffed. They had ran far from the little compys and had reached the edge of the forest, resting at the base of a hill. Zim pull out the compass and glared at it for some time.

"Over the hill and from there we have… about 47 Earth hours to reach the worm-hole." The alien's antennas flicked forward and his chest heaved and dropped in a hasty tempo.

"Can we take… a break?" Dib wheezed, too tired to inquire from where Zim got that number.

"No." Zim replied sternly.

"Aww, come on!" The scythe-haired boy whined. "Just five minutes!"

"No!" Came the snarled reply.

"Wait, why the hell do I need your permission?" With that Dib flopped onto the ground, a smirk spread across his face.

"Just shut up you two!" Parasa yelled with fists full of her hair. "Man, it's like a couple of five year olds..."Parasa mumbled to herself, letting her hair drift back into place.

"Well, HE started it!" Dib pointed crossly at Zim.

"We have no time for you pathetic human body to rest." Zim stated steadily, top zipper-like teeth showing.

"You seem rested now, so let's go. Hey, anyone notice that smell?" Parasa lifted her nose before wrinkling it in revulsion.

"It's probably Zim." Dib sneered and stood up to look around.

"Gaah!" A gust of wind blew from the hills direction and with it came the smell even stronger. "Seriously, what is that?" Dib covered his nose.

"It smells like the waste facilities of those lizard people on planet Tegu." Zim commented, making a twisted face.

"It does smell like lizard…" The girl murmured and tried hard to remember where she knew that smell from. A faint buzzing settled around the landscape. A dreadful, savage roar whipped across the plane and slammed into the three of them like a bug meets a windshield. The sound was so outlandish, so frightening, it seemed that the only place that such a thing could exist was in the shadows of anyone's worst dreams. But dreams are just that, something that never existed. Not this, this is something that always has existed, millions of years in the making, forgotten by time. It was back with a vengeance, and with only one thing on its mind, _blood_.


	3. Allosaurs

"Run!" Parasa howled, shoving Dib toward the tree line. The threesome sprinted thirty feet to the safety of a boulder wedged between two immense trees. The ground rumbled and swayed with the hum of thousands of individuals storming across the open land.

The first brown streak shot over the boulder, landing with a thump and sprinting on ahead. Within seconds the entire world shook as the terrified herbivores trumped in alarm. Such swift movement from something that large makes it hard to believe these mammoths were thought of as slow, dumb lizards. The trio presses against the boulder in hopes they wouldn't be stepped on. The herd began to thin out to the last few stragglers when a huge red theropod leaped over the boulder almost on top of another dinosaur. The smaller herbivore gave a windy howl and sprinted with the last energy it had left. It seemed to have gotten away when another carnivore slammed into its side from the right. The dinosaur was sent flying into a tree while the other hunter pounced on its stunned prey, locking its jaws just at the base of its head, under the crest. The herbivore made one more feeble attempt at escaping, thick back legs churning in the air. The movement was cut off by a sickening crunch and everything lay still. The pair of carnivores faced the chest of their fallen victim and buried their massive heads into the carcass, pulling back out with bloody muzzles.

"Wow" Parasa breathed, unquestionably astounded by the display of coordination between the two hunters.

"Wow?" Dib groaned, imagining those monstrosities getting bored of their current meal in favor of some laidback hunting. Zim sat quietly for once, watching with intrigue at the strange creatures and snickered at the sound of a snapping bone, probably imagining that was Dib getting his leg or neck broken.

"Wow," Parasa repeated "I never thought I'd get to see a pair of Allosauruses work together to bring down a Lambeosaurus, which is weird because they don't live in the same era, unless that's just been wrong carbon dating."

"Won't those things eat us if we don't get out of here?" Dib questioned, casting a nervous glance at the two Allosauruses gorging on the dead Lambeosaurus.

"That carcass should last them a few days and they don't hunt for the hell of it, so we should be safe, in fact I think they won't miss a few chunks of their kill, will they?" Parasa grinned, pulling out a strange looking pocket knife. Zims attention snapped to the blade.

"My knife! When did you take that?" Zim growled, now agitated that somehow he had let his guard down enough that the human was able to just take what she wanted.

Parasa shrugged, "I've learned not to ask, it's easier that way."

Parasa stalked up slowly to the dead herbivore, placing a hand on the middle of its tail. She beamed when she felt the pebbly skin. "It's _warm_" she breathed to herself. One of the Allosauruses noticed her presence and sniffed the air. Parasa ducked down, almost under the dead herbivore. She sucked in a breath and stuck the blade into the base of its tail, slowly carving out a square piece about the size of a hand. The Allosaurus snorted and dipped back down to the carcass to take another mouthful. Parasa had finish cutting out the piece and put away the knife. She slowly stood up; relief fluttering in her chest when she saw both of the predators had their rectangular heads tucked away. The girl turned slowly, taking a little step and… _SNAP! _She hadn't watched where she placed her foot and snapped a twig, loudly, very loudly. The Allosauruses were alert the moment the twig snapped. They stepped over the carcass, inspecting the miniature thief that was caught in the act.

Parasa swallowed hard as one large head came from the side and inhaled deeply. The other head came up from behind and nudged her in the back. The human squeaked in fear of the two creatures. One Allosaurus parted its jaws. Dib stared in terror as the Allosaurus ran it big pink tongue up Parasas back. Parasas mind was racing to figure out what to do. Should she run? Scream? Fight back? Survival shows never did go over what to do when you're being tasted by a pair of dinosaurs. Parasa found only one choice that seemed to work, heck, it even had a backup plan of its own. She whirled around to face the Allosaurus and stabbed the knife into its exposed tongue and yanked it back out. Well, it didn't really have a backup plan, but running worked just fine. The girl dashed up and over the boulder, leaving her other two companions bewildered about what happened. They picked it up real quickly after the Allosaurus left out a blood-curdling bellow and stormed around in a tight circle.

The three of them ran across the great plain to get as much distance between them and the Allosauruses as possible before collapsing out of exhaustion. They rested in the tall beige grass, weary from all the days running.

"Why did you do that?" Dib asked once he recovered his breath. Parasa just gazed at the sky to see the sun was about half way down.

"We should rest here for tonight." She said, completely ignoring the question. Zim, who usually was quick to scrutinize anyone else's proposals, simply sat there with a blank face and dull eyes.

The raven-haired boy glared at Parasa for a while, waiting for a response until he realized he probably wasn't going to get one. Nightfall had begun to creep up on the troop before the irken stood up and walked off in to the darkness. Dib noticed this at once and sprang up to intersect the alien.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked and also noticed the distant look in Zims eyes. Parasa had propped herself up on her elbows to get a better view. A light seemed to flick on in Zims head, though it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. With a small growl, he pushed past the human and stamped off. The light of the full moon was bright enough to see the very irritated face Dib had put on.

"Why does no one every answer my questions?" Dib mumbled to himself, sitting back down where he had been before and placed his chin on a fist.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Parasa huffed.

Later in the night Zim reappeared with an arm full of rocks and twigs. "What's with the rocks?" Dib asked, picking up one of the rocks in the pile Zim had made on the ground.

"Again with the questions!" Parasa shouted in fake rage.

"We need a fire." The irken responded in a flat tone.

"Good idea, now we either scare off all the predators with the smell of smoke or light a beacon to our location." The brunette chirped. She took a handful of rocks to make a ring and placed the twigs in the center. "How do we light it…?" Parasa said thoughtfully.

Zim swiftly pulled out a gun and shot the pile of wood, causing a cascade of sparks to shower down on the three of them. The two humans yelped at the sudden flash of light and they both jumped back several feet to evade the stinging little particles. Zim did little less that flinch. "There." Zim said without emotion. The fire burned brightly, dancing and twisting in the wind, as bright and hopeful as the group was in the thought of getting home in one piece.

The first of more days had gone off with a hitch, considering the most horrific thing to happen was a minor compy bite, but things were about to get much, much worse.


	4. The First Night

The fire burned intensely, drifting back and forth in the gentle midnight air. The trio was lying in the grass, trying to sleep through the rumbling bellows from the herd of nearby dinosaurs. Parasa growled and rolled over on her side to see if that helped at all. Zim sat in the same spot when they had got there, his cloudy eyes gazing off in the distance. Dib was stretched out in all directions with his eyes shut, trying with all his might to get over all the bumps in the night. He soon gave up and sighed, wishing he was home, in his bed. Parasa looked over to him, grabbed the nearest twig and jabbed him in the side.

"Ouch! The heck is wrong with you!" Dib snarled and yanked to stick away.

"That hurt, didn't it?" Parasa grinned, folding her arms behind her neck.

"Yes, it did!" Dib frowned, wondering why he had to get stuck with this person.

"Just checking. Can I have that stick back?" Parasa stretched out her hand and gestured for the branch back. Dib jabbed the stick into the palm of her hand.

"Ow!" The girl withdrew her hand, not before seizing the stick though. "Thanks." She grumbled irritably, turning her back to the other human. Dib propped himself up to get a view of what Parasa was going to do now. She gingerly moved the stick closer to Zim and then violently poked him in the leg. The alien was indifferent to the sharp prod and he stared. Parasa frowned and poked him again and again before crossly hurling the twig at the extraterrestrials head, which bounce off with little more than a blink.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Dib questioned, hoping she hasn't just gone nuts.

"There's method to my madness I'll have you know, now listen."

The world was noiseless, apart from the crackling fire and far off thump of the gargantuan sauropods plodding along. "What am I listening to exactly?" Dib asked.

"It's what you're not hearing that I'm interested in." Parasa whispered, flipping over to face the other. "I don't hear the mosquitos or the crickets or the bats or the frogs. That's what has me thinking."

"Ok, and that means?" Dib raised his eyebrow, getting more puzzled with every word she said.

"Well, you know those dinosaurs we saw? They aren't even from the same periods. So how can they be altogether here?" Parasas eyebrows knitted together and she rolled onto her back to watch the only thing that was still familiar. "And their behavior. It's all too perfect and yet so flawed, but I'm impressed with the effort and the replication but it's still just that. You hear that, Zim?" Parasa shouted the last part out to the sky and chuckled.

"Oh my god, you really are crazy." Dib thought it wasn't true, that maybe she believed Zim was an alien and she was sane but that was too much to ask for. Parasa flicked her head toward the insult with a smile,

"I never said I wasn't, but now isn't the time because I just figured it out, but I won't tell you now. Spoilers." The girl shut her eyes and creased her eyebrows in her profound thought. The other human sat for a moment, trying to come to terms with everything that just happened. He thought and only managed to get a head-ache; after all, he just appeared in the middle of the Mesozoic, ran from dinosaurs the size of chickens only to be nearly trampled to death by some other dinosaurs, then again chased by some carnivores that smelled like rotting fish and end up in a giant field with a apparently dead alien and a crazy person. This was enough to make anyone insane, but what frightened him the most was that this wasn't the weirdest thing that has every happen to him, which is probably the only reason why he hasn't gone bonkers yet. And what did she mean by "spoilers"? Was there something he wasn't getting? He just sighed and flopped onto his back to watch the stars. They did look nice…

He suddenly felt a wave of sleep and the raven-haired boy yawned loudly. Yeah… the stars… they do look nice… the way they move… and get closer… and closer… wait, stars don't move… But they were coming closer than ever and at an unbelievable speed. Uncomfortably close, like a wall. The world suddenly caved in, a bright swirl of light and a deafening white noise abruptly plunged into a terminal darkness. Dib choked and sputtered in the dark, all the air sucked out of existence. The room full of wires leisurely faded in, the soft hum of machinery and the sound of steady breathing was all to be heard. Dib tried to force his eyes open but they didn't budge, nor did his arms or legs. He lied on the cold ground for a time before feeling the room spin, slowly at first before gaining speed and throwing his thought away. He gritted his teeth and prayed that it would just stop before he threw up.

The world seemed to calm down, unanticipated warmth on his leg and a good amount of grass stuck in his ear and nose. A muffled grunt came from below him and a gust of hot wind disrupting his trench coat and up his leg. Parasa shot up immediately. She was sweating and panting, her pupils dilated. The girl placed her hands on her forehead and she dropped back into the grass, only to shoot back up and smirk slyly. "Dib, do you have any… vegetation in your shoe by any chance?"

"Not that I know of… why?" Dib looked down at his shoes and got a _very _unpleasant surprise.


	5. Spoilers

The square head of a dinosaurs loomed over his leg. It had a beak like a birds and was a mossy green, with little horn-like protrusions all over its flat back, all the way to the tip of its dense tail. It stared a Dib with a dumb look and hazy eyes, like that of a cow. Dib sucked in a breath and stayed motionless, hoping this _thing_ would go away. Its blue tongue stretched around its beak and it turned its rectangular head back to the boys black shoe and bit down. Dib howled in pain and kicked violently at the dinosaurs head with his free foot. The dinosaur hobbled its thick, 5-foot long body around, bellowing in terror. The two startled creatures moved in opposite directions.

"Aw, why did you have to scare it away?" Parasa whined, glaring at the other human.

"It bit my foot!" Dib protested, gesturing in the direction the dinosaur had shambled away in, now lost in the sea of grass.

Parasa stared blankly and reached in her pocket to pull out the two halves of dinosaur meat she had stolen the day before. "You said 'foot' and I remembered I had this." Parasa placed a lump of meat in Dibs hand, much to his displeasure.

"Ok?" The boy examined the meat.

"Well, let's start the fire…" Parasa looked back to the burned ashes of the fire from yesterday, only to see it still burning. "Oh, I guess not."

Parasa picked up the stick that she had thrown at Zim. She poked the lifeless alien again, not noticing the spark in his eyes. He lunged forward and grabbed her shirt by the collar, snarling and hissing something inhuman under his breath. The irken lifted the human off the ground. Parasa whimpered and clawed weakly at Zims gloved hand, fear sparkling in her eyes. Zim tightened his grip and brought their foreheads together with a primal growl. He whispered something in her ear and she chuckled. The alien shook her violently to shake that grin off her face. He brought her closer again and grumbled something else. She held a taut frown, and murmured something back. Zims antennas flicked forward in mock interest and then he made a devilish smile. They exchanged a few more times and Zim dropped Parasa down roughly. Parasa stumbled, recuperated her balance and dusted herself off.

Zim spun around on his heel and goose-stepped a few feet before whirling back around, "Keep it, or perish." The irken flashed his zipper-like teeth and marched off towards the west with the brilliant sun to his back.

"Spoilers." Parasa chimed back. The irken turned his head to the side so the sun glinted of his mysterious crimson eyes and for a brief moment, perhaps it was imagined, they showed _fear_.

The two humans had sat down and begun to cook the dinosaur meat with a stick, the sun not even half way up yet. "So" dib started, "do you really believe Zims an alien?" Parasa simple nodded her head, pulling the slab of meat out of the flames to make sure it hadn't blackened.

"You say it like it's not every day that people notice that." She stuck the meat back over the blaze, not satisfied with it yet.

"Well, no one ever does, not the people at school, not people on the street, not even my dad, they all call me crazy." Dib lowered his eyes.

"Maybe they just don't want to deal with the thought." Parasa suggested, again checking the meat.

"Huh?" Dib looked a Parasa with a raised eyebrow.

"If someone told you that in two years on a Thursday, the world would end and there was nothing you could do to stop it, would you want to know about it or just pretend it didn't exist? Most people would say that they rather ignore it, because their lives are already so full of other things that they don't need that thought looming over their heads." Parasa stated matter-of-factly. "It's just human nature." She put the food over the fire again.

"So you're saying that people know Zim's an alien but they just ignore it?" Dib couldn't take this seriously, it was too unreal.

"Not by choice, but society has caused all humans to have the need to fit in with everyone else so they unintentionally block out all the things that go against what the people who 'know what they're doing' say, because they have lost the will to make their own decisions. And that's why everyone is an idiot on the outside because it's easier that way." Parasa did the routine again, but this time she took a bit of the meat and gagged. "This tastes… awful." The brunette made a scrunched up face and swallowed the piece of meat. Parasa glared at the food, trying to think of a way to make it taste better.

Dib sniffed it and thought it couldn't be too terrible. It was. "This tastes like a rusty leather shoe." Dib criticized.

"At least we have something, and I almost died for this so I'm not going to waste it on you if you don't want it." Parasa consumed another bite and frowned while she chewed. "It does taste like shoe, though."

They soon finished the shoe-meat and they waited for Zim to return from where ever he had wondered off to. "What did Zim tell you?" Dib asked, remembering that odd conversation. Parasa straightened her back and turned her head towards Dib but didn't look him in the eyes.

"What? Nothing, nothing at all, just a misunderstanding, stop asking so many questions." Parasa stammered, glancing around.

"No, and what do you mean by spoilers?" Dib questioned, moving closer to Parasa. The brunette grinned, her brown eyes flashing.

"Something that will mean the difference between life and death if it holds true. Just remember when I say 'it's behind you', drop to the ground and you won't have to worry, maybe, but you will have to hide." Parasa cackled as it was all too amusing run circles around the other human.

Dib sighed; it was hard to get answers from someone who had lost their mind, if they ever had one.

"We should put out the fire." Parasa suggested, kicking some dirt into the roaring inferno, still burning as bright as the day before. Dib began to help kick soil into the fire, smothering the flames. Soon there was a pile of blackened branches and cinders. Zim was just loping back to the flattened circle of grass where the other two were. Zims eyes were now crystal clear and keenly scanning his surroundings, his antennas flicking about. Parasa contemplated the use of the things protruding out of his head. The two humans stood up and strode over to Zim. The alien tilted his head to the right and flicked his antennas to the other side, giving him an odd look. Parasa blinked in return and Zim straightened his head before spinning around and marching to the west, the sun creeping up on the small group.


	6. Bird of Prey

"Only about thirty-four hours left." Zim murmured, glancing at the metal box in his palm.

"Thirty-four hours 'til what?" Dib butted in, looking over the green boys shoulder to see the timer.

"Stupid earth-monkey, it's clearly the time 'til our way out closes and we're trapped here for longer." Zim spat to the human. Parasa snickered at that statement, only to have Zim shoot a deadly glare at the brunette. She looked away with a twisted smile, brushing her hand over the golden grass.

The scythe-haired boy was yet again confused. Something was going on that was as obvious as an elephant in a trashcan, but he couldn't see it. The trio continued walking for a time and then a tree line broke the endless sea of gold.

"Look! A forest!" Dib exclaimed, for a while he thought he might go mad with all this grass that looked the same. All. The. Time.

"Really? I can't see it; those trees are in the way." Parasa teased. The boy couldn't tell if she was kidding or if she was serious.

The troop approached the forest slowly, the faint smell of rotting meat in the air. "I noticed there's no wind or weather and we haven't seen any other dinosaurs since that Minmi that bite Dibs foot." Parasa said, mostly to herself. The two males just ignored her; most of the things she said were nonsense anyways. The smell of rotting meat got progressively strong, making Parasa very jumpy.

"What was that!?" The restless girl yelped, eyes wide with shock.

"Sorry, I stepped on a… umm… I think it's a bone." Dib bent down and pick up the bleached splinter. Parasa grimaced, casting her eyes over everything.

"We better hurry to get away from here." Her voice was higher pitched than normal. The two others exchanged glances; something must be quite frightening to scare Parasa that badly. The female pushed the two of them forward and scurried ahead, twisting and turning around anything that looked suspicious. The odor of decaying meat faded away. Parasas shoulders released their tension. She sat down on a moss covered log, placed her face in her hands and sighed shakily. "It's ok, it's ok…" she mumbled to herself, her hair waving in the wind coming from behind her. She snapped up and stared in horror. Zim and Dib stood a few feet apart and looked to the direction the wind was heading and saw nothing.

"Don't look, just _slowly _walk towards me." Parasa said in a low, dark tone. They both stared forward and took one step at a time, not asking why. The girl slowly stood up and dropped to her knees. She glanced behind her and slid under the gap where the log hung over a trench, making a little place to hide safely. She looked through the gap and her eyes filled to the brim with terror.

"It's behind you." Parasa moaned. Dib quickly hit the spongy ground and a figure went soaring overhead with a solid _thump _when it hit the log. Zim had already made a beeline for the fallen tree and slid under.

The figure had stood up and was staring at the human with cold, silted, amber eyes like a viper. It stood 5 feet on its hind legs, using its thick tail for balance as it held perfectly still. Its leathery skin was tainted an intense green and faded rust colored patches on the underbelly and large head. The creature smelled like a rotten animal, with long menacing-looking claws on its feet and had shorter front arms. The raptors head began to bob to and fro similar to a bird. Dib bit by bit used his elbows to drag himself to the log, not breaking eye contact with the dinosaur poised atop the same fallen tree. The theropod flared its nostrils and tilted its head to the human, becoming agitated by the mistake the human was making. It hissed and threw its head back, an ear-splitting shriek passing its open jaws. Dib was almost to the log, stopping to cover his ears from the bombardment of screeches coming from all around the jungle. He got his bearings and he flung himself to safety. He stopped short. A heavy load on his back, sudden flares of pain jolting his back. He screamed in agony and thrashed under the weight. A hot breath caressed the back of his neck with a snarl. His face was plastered to the dirt. A wave of tranquility filled the world, a sudden realization. He almost didn't mind the jagged teeth clamped on his neck. The last sound he knew was a sickening _snap_.

And then nothing.

Darkness.


	7. Wake Up

Zim and Parasa sat in silence, watching the raptor tear at the human's neck. A grin slowly crept up onto Zims face. He was happy to see his enemy had fallen, but on the inside he knew he was forcing that smile and as hard as he tried, that smile only slumped over into a taut frown. It wasn't fair. He had been fighting that pathetic human for nearly three and a half years and in less than a second he was brought down by a primitive lizard with little more than a sharp snap to the neck. Pitiful.

While Zim was sorting out his thoughts, Parasa had gotten hold of the gray box and held it in the palm of her hand. The dial spun around wildly, and the small numbers in the corner had all changed into boxy C's. She sighed to herself and murdered, "This is going to end sooner than I hoped, three years only for twenty-four hours."

The raptor lifted its large head from the body and cocked it back and forth, its nostrils flaring as a gust of wind blew in from the direction of the log. The pack of seven or so raptors shifted nervously, throwing their heads back in agitation. A heavy weight pressed on the top of the log so it bent and splintered, creaked and cracked. The raptor leaned over its prized and snarled, digging its claws into the flesh. A thick, heavy-set body blocked the small hole with a cream colored underbelly. Muscles rippled under the thick armored skin as it maneuvered about in a quick steady motion on all fours, sweeping around the right of the group of velociraptors. It had a long crocodile-like back with long limbs and a square head located on a short neck. The raptors hissed and screeched but did not advance. One of the juvenile raptors, about two-thirds the size of the adults, swung forwards and backwards on its feet. The new reptile reared back, propped up by its tail. The young raptor roared and leaped with back legs stretched out at the beasts exposed belly, hoping to spill its innards. The dinosaur slammed its 5 meter body onto the raptors, crushing its pelvis and skull. The body writhed and convulsed for a few seconds before it lay still. The Ticinosuchus craned its neck down to its feet and licked off the thick liquid. The remaining raptors formed a semicircle around the left side of the clearing, snorting and hissing. The crocodile like dinosaur moved delicately over to the lump in the center of the field. The raptor that had made the kill took one step back and held its ground. The Ticinosuchus jerked its head at the raptor, snapping its jaws just below the head of the bipedal dinosaur. The raptor moved in a flash, raking its hind leg across the others eye, showing its amazing flexibility. The crocodile roared in anger and gripped the raptors front arm in its jaws. The raptor screamed and tore at the Ticinosuchuses orange and black mottled hide. The dark blood oozed out and the air became heavy with the metallic smell of blood. The Ticinosuchus released the raptor which clumsily hopped back to its flock. The blood of the dinosaurs pooled on the ground and the raptors closed in on the half-blind lizard. The Ticinosuchus pivoted on its front legs to keep its good eye on the smaller predators. The raptors remained wary, not getting close enough to snap at the intruder. The body they fought over was behind the Ticinosuchus, covered in dirt and blood splatters and slumped over on his side. The crocodile recognized that it had little chance of fighting off the rest of the raptors and it slid sideways to the edge of the clearing. It turned away from the raptors and disappeared into the shrubbery in two elegant strides. The raptors pursued closely, determined to not let this beast leave the territory without a fair beating. One raptor stopped by the side of the dead juvenile and let out a soft rumbling hum and lightly placed its muzzle on the lifeless raptors neck. Another raptor turned and made a deep knocking sound, shoving the raptor that had paused. The first raptor gave the other an almost sad look, it eyes glazed over in pain, before plunging into the thick maze of ferns.

The field was dappled with blood and two lumps lied peacefully as the sunlight filtered in from above. Parasa clambered out and groaned as she stretched, then dusted the soil off her now stained white shirt and blue jeans. Zim soon followed, listening for any sign of the raptors.

"Ok, let's get going." Parasa gestured to the log.

Zim stared at Dibs body and wondered if maybe he was still alive so they could bicker amongst themselves about where to head to next.

Parasa noticed and shook her head. "He's dead, Zim. But don't worry, he's not dead." The human said merrily. Zim just looked at Parasa in a comical way, that one eye half open bit that he did when he was puzzled. Parasa laughed, "You know what I mean."

"Zim is confused; tell him what the filth dirt child means."

"You know I'm the one who sustains this reality but you two created it, with my help of course. But you don't know what that means. The only thing you bothered to find out was that I could predict where and when Dib would die but you didn't bother to dig any farther than that. What I mean is that I'm as human as you are and I've been lost and lonely since the three years when you last used me, something about a muffin if I do recall." Parasa said, so quick that it almost sounded like a bunch of gibberish. "But recently you turned me back on, about four months ago, and I've be busy ever since, especially because you download _seven _personalities on to my hard drive. There's me, Parasa, Leader One, then there's everyone else: Terix, he's the other leader, Leader Two. Orin, the eccentric male. Syria, the eccentric female. Zixa, she's quite evil. Lopiri, she's like our pet, always friendly yet shy. And Grag, he's mischievous, getting into trouble all the time but in the end he loves making everyone laugh, sometimes even Zixa. I'd love going into more detail."

"Eh?" was all Zim managed to say, confused still.

"That means I… I'm… the thing… oh I can't think of the word." Parasa growled and shrugged it off. "Anyways, we should get going. We've got a death to catch, the clock is counting down. Tick-tock goes the clock as the old rhyme goes." Parasa turned towards the log and scrambled over the fallen trunk. It groaned in protest, after all, it had just been trampled by a giant.

Zims antennas flatten against his head. Whose death awaited them? He organized the information in his mind. She said she was not human, but she smelled like a filthy human and moved like one too. But she was too intelligent to be a stinking human. Download… three years… muffin…

It was that moment when Zim realized he felt shorter than he usually did. He looked back a Dib. He was shorter too, and the scar Zim had let on his forehead was gone, and the tip of his hair was a straight end, no slight zigzagging at the end indicating the beginning of lightning bolt shaped hair. They looked youthful, like they had three years ago. When life was a big game and they spent every hour of the day plotting how to destroy each other the next one, but usually only got around to name calling. When they were so naïve.

But it all changed about a year ago after Zim went too far. It was a cold rainy day and the Dib-thing had humiliated Zim for the last time. A knife would do just nicely. But no one was home, only Dibs sister, Gaz, and that was close enough. He remembered that scream and everything afterwards happened in a blur. Blood on the floor… Dib coming through the door… the wrath in his amber eyes… then darkness, cold, wet and painful. He remembered waking up in a trashcan in front of Dibs house and head splitting agony. Half of one of his antennas was gone and numb. He hadn't killed anyone. Not yet.

The word download infiltrated Zims thoughts and was distracting him, like a fly going around his head. Downloading problems? That happened once, when that stupid simulation system failed to accept each piece of irken technology he was able to get, until finally he realized it needed a living subject to create a simulation.

Zim, being very oblivious, completely overlooked the answer that was staring him in the face. Besides, he had gotten rid of that system years ago, or at least he told GIR to get rid of it and just told himself it was Zim who had done it.

Parasa returned and poked the alien in the arm, giving him an irritated look, "We'll be late."

"Don't touch me." Zim snarled, pushing away the perhaps-not-a-human human.

"Well get moving." The girl said hopping over the log.

Zim grudgingly followed Parasa. They traveled away from the clearing at a lazy pace, a trail worn into the soil that sloped downward.

"No wind, then suddenly wind. Must be something that would be really weird without wind, something absolutely unavoidable, like…" Parasa paused and drew in a deep breath. "Salt plus wind equals…" The girl pushed back a large fern leaf that had grown in front of the path. "Ocean!"

The greenish-blue ocean tore savagely at the land, glinting in the sunlight and the smell of the salty-sweet wind coming off the warm sea. It's beautiful, untamed waves rolling and dancing on the shore, the air saturated with the briny mist, causing an alien very much dread.

Zim groaned at the sight of the water crashing on the shore, the waves rolling in and out made his dizzy. Parasa grinned.

"Did you forget?"

"Zim forgets nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"What is Zim forgetting?"

"Water is a killer, and it's waiting." Parasa said, strolling up the beach, kicking up plumes of sand.

Zim was starting to hate that human, more than Dib, and in less than two days. They traveled up the beach, all the while avoiding the surf. The sand was tracked with small three toed foot prints and the occasional sunbaked trilobite washed up on the shore, picked clean by scavengers. The sun climbed over head and began to descend behind them. The land that bordered the beach rose into the air, sheer cliffs exposed, covered in squawking dinosaurs flying overhead from the open ocean. Soon the shore became a thin stretch, only about five feet wide.

"We need to start climbing this cliff if we're going to get any further." Parasa placed a hand on the bluff and hauled herself up. The sand had come to an end and Zim had forgotten to bath in paste that day, so the only solution was up. He didn't protest, but he hated listening to an inferior being.

Zim and Parasa moved hand over hand up the vertical surface, moving slightly towards the right, over the ocean. Parasa looked at the grey box.

"Five more minutes. We have to get to the top."

They started moving as fast as possible, sending showers of rocks down into the sea below. Parasa slipped and grunted, just catching herself on a ledge. Zim moved with much more grace, hopping neatly from shelf to shelf. Parasa was keeping up, just stumbling along. The lip of the cliff jutted out about a foot and crumbled away with little pressure. Zim stretched his arm over the edge and tried to pull himself up only to have the chunk break off. The alien grumbled and let the rubble drop.

"Now what? We only have… one and a half more minutes." Parasa asked, just to the left of Zim.

Zim grabbed hold of the lip again and pulled away another piece, leaving the rest six-inches on the rim. Zim looked at Parasa with one eyebrow lifted, if he had one. Parasa seemed to understand and pulled off a lump over her head. The brim now had two holes big enough for a human and an irken to squeeze through. They scrambled over and panted, tired from the free climbing.

Zim glanced about, "Where's the wormhole?"

"There never was one." Parasa said slowly, like Zim had asked a stupid question.

"But the box thing…"

"The TDT? Actually TDT stands for Till Death Timer'"

"Then how do we get out of here?" Zim hissed, beginning to get pissed off at the human.

"The only way, though I hate that we have to end this so soon, we've only just met. Don't forget me, I certainly won't forget you, but we will meet again very soon, in another adventure. I would tell you but they are _Spoilers._" And with that the human slammed into Zim and they swung right to the edge, onto the brittle surface. Zim hung there for a moment, clutching the human's hand, the scratchy sound of crackling rock predicting his near future.

"I hate you." was all Zim could snarl before losing his grip and plummeting down. Twisting and flailing in the air, his hands brushed the cliff once, twice, until the wind was knocked out of him and he felt like an ember inside a roaring fire. He just managed to open his eyes to see the inky darkness.

Parasa sat on the shelf, humming tunelessly. "Oh those two, I wonder if they'll remember. Time to wake up." Parasa closed her eyes and waited.


	8. PRIM

The room was a pinkish hue, dim as it was, the soft sound of machinery humming in the background. Two bodies lay in the middle of the large enclosure, breathing in unbroken rhythm. Strange helmet-like protrusions clamped just above their foreheads and under their chins. The caps lit up on occasion, the many cords connecting to the top slithering away into the darkness.

One of the bodies stirred. The metal helmet fell away at its seams with an airy hiss. The human groaned and cracked open one eye only to place his arm over his eyes, for even the faint light was irritating.

"Whahapen?" The human slurred. Dibs head rolled back and forth on the chilly ground. The cold felt as if it had seeped into his bones, he ached all over. His managed to lift his head and see the other figure lying across from him. It shifted.

The green-skinned boy quickly sat up, gasping and running his hands up his face. Zim growled, "That _filthy_ worm-baby, pushing the great _Zim_!"

"Zim!" Dib snarled, almost forgetting all that had happened upon hearing his enemy's infuriating voice, feeling it fill him with liveliness.

"Eh?" Zim appeared to be astonished to see his nemesis.

"What the heck were all those things that just happened, Zim? Was it some alien abduction thingy? Or maybe an alien virus?"

"Close." A voice filled the chamber, all too familiar. "I'm PRIM: Personal Reality Initiator Machine. I added the _M _part_, _I didn't like PRI. But you know me as Parasa, one of seven personalities. Now, any questions?" The machine sang, just like Parasa, only it crackled and wavered in intensity.

"What?" Dib was baffled. This sounded like something from science fiction, though that would explain one thing.

"'What' is not an adequate question."

"So… was that thing… when I had that dream thing of getting superpowers from some aliens… was that you?" Dib asked after sorting his thoughts.

"The time when Zim spent that entire day making a reality just so he could know you threw a muffin at him? Yeah, that was my work and I have to say, you imagination was _really_ interesting when you were younger, now I could only get enough imagination keep the clouds in the sky."

"Zim wants to know why."

"Vague, but ok. Mostly because I had just read this book written by Michael Crichton called _Jurassic Park_ and I thought 'Hey, why don't I make something like that?' and that turned into this. Secondly, being stuck with the same six people for four months can get very annoying." Parasa chattered away.

"How can you read a book? You're a computer." The human asked.

"The internet."

"And if all your personalities are virtual, how do you communicate?"

"Again, the internet. Chat rooms work best, though we also just play games on the internet. But unfortunately, we can hear _everything _anyone else is doing if it makes noise and when Orin and Syria get together…"

"Did I hear my name?" A new voice blasted through, deeper than Parasa's, manlier with a hit of a British accent. "Listen to that. What's that? My voice? I'm a _tiye_? I forgot. Hey, Syria! Syria! Get your hard drive over here!"

"Come on, I was on the last lev- oh what's that?" The voice was similar to Parasas, only a little lighter and more pleasant to the ears. "It's my voice, right? Holy crap, I'm a _taye_!? This is impossible! My life is a lie! …. Aw, whatever, I'm going back to the game."

"I lost the game." The manlier voice called playfully.

"I hate you. But I won the other game." The more feminine voice retorted.

They all waited in silence for a moment, waiting for any more odd interruptions. None came and the only sound was a gentle whine.

"What are a _tiye_ and a _taye_?" The human asked, disrupting the peace.

"Like male and female. Genders for my kind, though we have three genders. _Teye _is the third, but technically it doesn't exist." Parasa responded. "But let's not get into that, we'll have time for that on our next meeting. Once I find a worthy book to base it off of, that is. Or I'll use my imagination, or a book and my imagination."

"There will be no next time; Zim is going to dispose of the PRIM system immediately." Zim had stood up, his antennas flicked at an angle, one shorter than the other from when dib had cut it off.

"What? But…Zim…please?" The computer argued. Her voice crackled, but maybe it was just the connection.

"No, Zim cannot afford having you messing with his daily schedule of exterminating all humans."

The voice sat quiet for some time. Then another new voice came on, older and very sharp.

"Request: Denied. Revising mainframe."

Then dim light flicked off, plunging the room into unnatural darkness. The calmly humming sound changed into a high-pitched whirr. The two life forms stood still, blinking quickly as if to blink away the abrupt darkness.

A faint tapping sounded next to Dib, followed by a thump and a snarl. Furious button-pressing noises came from the far side of the room with the outlandish echo of the irken language.

"Damn! The house is down." Zim hissed, slamming his fists on the panel. "Computer!" The alien waited. "Computer!?"

"Yes?" The voice was unmistakable.

"What have you done to my base!?"

"Well… I don't know. I think I got into the house's brain, so I guess I'm the new brain. Or I'm sharing it with Computer. It's a_ teye_ you know. Thought they didn't exist and apparently when you're artificially created you don't get a name. I'll call him Squishy."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Dib interrupted.

"That means that I'm horrible at coming up with names… But maybe you actually want to know that I'm now in partial control of the house, all its programs and protocols. It also means that I must rid the house of _pests_."

The light flashed back on with a white brilliance, blinding both Dib and Zim. Black cords about a finger thick slithered from hidden gaps in the walls and under the control panel. They quickly made their way across the room and from under the floor over to the human. One slid halfway up dibs leg, surprisingly tight. The next one crawled around his ankle as soon as the other had gotten its grip. Dib struggled against the cables but his feet felt as if they had been bolted to the floor.

"Sorry human, but it's all in the programing."

The lighting settled down to its dim pink color. An intimidating, bulky cannon-like weapon dropped from the ceiling, constructed of different sized rings that fit perfectly into each other. Its rings spun and buzzed fiercely.

The irken cackled, satisfied that his enemy would die at his feet, technically. Zim decided he wasn't in the mood to clean up the mess this was going to make, so he marched over to the door which slid up into the ceiling, and before leaving he said, "Bye, Dib." And he left the room with a crooked smile on his green face. Maybe this PRIM system isn't a total waste.

The cannon began to illuminate in the center, the final loop only about the size of tennis ball. It whirred and hissed and it roared like a freight train, blocking out every sound. Dib cringed and clenched his jaws, hoping just it would end before his ears started bleeding.

The roaring stopped. Dib opened his eye a bit, looking into the gun.

A muffin popped out, smacking Dib in-between the eyes. And for the second time, he had fallen for that stupid thing.

"See? I had a plan… Not really, but it worked out. Now get out of here before Zim get back."

"How do I-" The human was cut short when the floor dropped out from under him. He plunged down into a working of tunnels that looped up and down, around sharp bends and turns. He was completely disorientated down in these networks of tubing, spinning around and around. It was like being flushed down a toilet.

His came down hard on the cement. Dib lied on his back for a moment, trying to collect the breath he'd just had driven out of his body. He propped himself up on his elbows. He was sitting on a sidewalk with a strange little house looming overhead and surrounded by gnomes, smiling eerily from their posts on the lush green grass.

Dib made his way home; he was too tired to try to murder Zim. He trudged along, staring at the ground to watch his shadow follow him home. The human looked up to see a door in his way. He reached for the doorknob.

Something caught his eye. It was a box, just as boxy as any other box, besides the letters scrawled in what looked similar to blood. The letters could just be made out: _D, I, B_.

Dib poked the box. Maybe he would have a look inside; besides, things were too strange to get any more bizarre.

If only Dib knew he had been wrong.

* * *

**And that's the end of that. Going to make a follow up of what's in Dib's box. Just giving you a "heads up".**


End file.
